Awakening the Great Chapter 2

Ch.2: Dragon In The Mud

The destination ca into view at dawn when thick fog had settled.

"We finally made it. How many people died just to transport this damn bastard?"

"……."

"Amazing, isn't it? This is Falken Mine. It's one of the top five places for magic stone excavation in the central region. Take a good look. This will be the last ti you see it from the outside."

While the slave traders spat out mocking words, Calix looked up at the artificial structure spewing smoke.

Hundreds of mine shafts piercing through the mountainside were filled with nothing but darkness, without a glimr of hope. A gloomy crouching as if the mine itself were alive.

Crack!

Clang, clang, clang!

At the entrance, acrid smoke billowed out, while torches hanging on the walls swayed weakly in rhythm with the sound of whips wielded by overseers.

Cough cough.

After coughing in the cold wind for a while, the slave traders handed over ownership of Calix as soon as they reached the mine entrance.

Before his eyes stood a supervisor and an overseer.

"What? What kind of pale bastard is this... Tsk. No, actually this is better. There's just one diver position open, isn't there?"

"Yes, I'll send him down below."

"The guys they've been bringing lately are all disappointing. Will that one even last a week?"

Calix couldn't rember the supervisor's appearance that flashed by in an instant, but he clearly saw those dry, emotionless eyes.

Eyes that looked at objects, not humans.

"Let's see, your na is..."

"Calix—cough... It's Calix."

Crack!

Sure enough, while walking into the mine, a low-ranking overseer struck his cheek hard.

His weak body fell flat on the ground from just being hit by a palm, and the man offered advice as if it were nothing.

"Don't answer questions that weren't asked. No. From now on, don't use your tongue at all. Do you understand?"

"……."

"Quite clever. You understood well. Your na from now on is 70715. Rember it."

And shortly after.

Rattle, rattle rattle!

The two n took an elevator down deep underground.

Moisture had seeped into the walls everywhere, making them damp beyond asure, and the old wooden supports seed to be waiting only for when they would collapse. The gradually heating air felt like it would burn his lungs, and the dirt dust penetrating his mouth caused coughing.

"It's getting hot now. But don't be surprised yet. The place where you'll work is deep and narrow, plus it's full of muddy water, so you won't have any use for your eyeballs."

Rattle rattle, clank!

And soon Calix, who had reached the lowest level of the mine—no, 70715—faced a deep and narrow muddy water pit just as the supervisor had said.

A hole barely the width of an adult's waist was filled with mud, and a diver who had just erged from the pit was dry-coughing and spitting out blood.

"Oh, did I ntion that the mud is full of toxins?"

"……"

"Work hard. If magic stone production decreases, I won't let it slide."

Was Calix discouraged?

Not at all.

While he was overwheld by the shock, terror, and despair that Falken Mine brought, on the other hand, he made the walls of his heart even thicker.

He could endure both the harsh environnt he was experiencing for the first ti and his cheek that had turned red from being hit by the supervisor.

'Calix, you must not expect kindness from strangers. You must not make the mistake of thinking that people you don't know will take your side.'

'Likewise, you don't need to make excessive efforts to be loved by soone. What's important is not earning hatred.'

'You must bow your head and wait for the right ti. Heroes from long ago were people who knew how to choose where to fight.'

Like the contents of the storybooks his mother had told him, there would always be a breakthrough.

Ashapel Raimund started as a commoner and laid the foundation for a Marquis family, Knight Jogaf endured six years of captivity among savages, and the hero Ellinga also endured painful tis as a slave rowing ship oars.

'I can do it too.'

Calix gritted his teeth and made a resolution, then made it again.

He didn't know where this place was, but he would get out of the mine.

Without fail.

***

After finishing a day's work, the divers gathered their equipnt and headed to the tunnel residence. As their breathing beca rough from the hot underground heat, their nerves beca sharp, and that irritation inevitably turned toward the newly arrived burden.

"Planning to go comfortably by yourself? What are you keeping your hands for?"

"I'm sorry."

4961 didn't like anything about Calix. His smooth, pale skin and polite answers were all things that shouldn't exist in this hell.

Thud.

And this thought wasn't his alone, as 2014 threw a tantrum as if he had been waiting right after they arrived at the residence.

"It's ti to eat. Hey, you haven't been here long, so it's okay to eat less, right?"

"...Yes."

What was so special about rye bread that it was so hard that teeth could barely penetrate it?

About a dozen pairs of sunken eyes stared intently at the newcor who had started the hazing, when suddenly a low voice intervened.

"Stop. The rules are set. One lump per person. No exceptions."

The leader of the divers, 909.

"But... Isn't this how we usually do it at first?"

"That's only for normal guys. It's beneficial for adaptation to quickly erase traces of outside life. But that guy has been coughing since earlier. Let's skip the initiation."

"……."

"Don't think about taking out your anger separately either. What do we always say?"

"...Divers must take care of each other to survive."

"Right. Even if the pickaxe workers mock us, we must stick together. That's how we survive."

Indeed, it was so.

Their faces were full of boils with pus flowing over them, so divers were often ignored even among the mine slaves.

Although they received relatively generous rations since they were tasked with mining the highest-grade magic stones, they were often mocked for ‘selling their faces to earn bread’.

However, the divers maintained silence despite 909's consolation and expressed their uncomfortable feelings. Those who couldn't do their share were ostracized—that was the most absolute rule of Falken Mine.

Then.

Slide, grip grip! Thud!

Calix gripped the rye bread thrown in front of him with both hands, then imdiately broke it into two pieces and picked up only half.

"...What are you doing?"

"Half is enough for ."

"……."

"Since I didn't work today."

If he had been a normal guy, they would have beaten him soundly for making such nonsensical wordplay.

Anyway, it was a thoughtfulness that didn't suit his circumstances, so the divers involuntarily let out laughter.

Kehehehe.

However, since they couldn't even rember when they had last laughed, the emotions contained within beca much more complex.

"Fine, damn bastard. Since it's co to this, I'll teach you how to turn bread crumbs into at. There are rat bastards living down here, too. Their taste is also exquisite."

"You're really lucky. Who knows? If luck continues to follow you, you might get a chance to go outside."

When Calix suddenly raised his head in response to the last words, the divers once again let out low, gloomy laughter.

"...Is there a way to get out?"

"If you're really lucky, there are cases where they pick people from outside. But there's no way they'd pick soone who's not intact. If you're exposed to magic stone toxicity like us, they'd never pick you. Just look at how hideous our appearance is."

And Calix would naturally learn what their gloomy laughter ant before long.

***

Six months later.

Swish swish, swish, swoosh!

Calix used a sieve to sort out high-purity magic stones.

Simple labor of filtering magic stones from the mud that divers had scooped up. Even during this, his innate ability remained, and things buried in the mud sparkled throughout his field of vision.

Worried that he might get sick, he was careful not to let it touch his skin during work, but eventually, what was bound to co finally ca.

"...Grandfather."

"What?"

"My finger color has changed."

Under dim candlelight.

When he showed his fingertip that had turned blue, 909, the most senior diver, extended his own hand as if it were nothing.

His entire body's skin had changed to various red and blue colors so that anyone could tell sothing was wrong, but most importantly, he only had three fingers.

Three fingers total on both hands.

"It's inevitable since it's the part that touches magic stones. What do you expect when you're touching them all the ti? Magic power is inherently like that. Terribly harsh."

"...I see."

And one year later.

Cough, cough, ugh—!

His already weak body only worsened when it t the underground heat and terrible humidity.

Red energy circulated in various parts of his skin before blood seeped out, and finally, boils began to grow all over his body like others.

But without even having ti to feel despair, Calix faced a situation where he had to dive in himself.

"Now you'll have to dive too. Maybe because excavation volu has decreased, that overseer bastard keeps making a fuss. He specifically ntioned your number... I'm sorry it's co to this. This is as far as my ability goes."

"No. It's ti to go in since the ti has co."

In reality, 909 and the other divers were also sick in body.

Personnel weren't easily replenished, and excavation volu was gradually decreasing, so there was no way they'd show consideration even if one's body wasn't normal.

Thus, his first dive.

Calix received equipnt while half-subrged in the mud pit. Thick eye covers, leather pouches, ropes, and buckets—all things for magic stone excavation.

"Let's try going into level 3 today. The assistants will adjust the depth, but you must develop the habit of always checking rope knots. Most importantly, you don't breathe well, so if you go too deep, you might lose consciousness if you're not careful. If you think it's dangerous—"

"Pull the rope twice. Right?"

"...Yes. Be careful."

Shortly after.

Inhale, exhale.

Gulp!

Going down below the surface was surprisingly easy. He had heard countless precautions, and the feeling of mud pressing against his body wasn't bad either.

Only, it was inconvenient that he couldn't see anything due to the layers of eye covers.

Breathing through a bamboo tube, he noticed that each ti the rope was gently pulled, he descended one level at a fixed depth.

'Now level 3. I'm here.'

That place was extrely quiet and... Splendid.

'As expected, I can still see light.'

Despite blocking his vision with eye covers, countless magic stones embedded in the walls each sparkled like stars.

The ability of Ranita.

However, eting the work quota was the priority for now.

In a narrow hole where he could touch the walls if he stretched out both arms, Calix felt the unique resistance of mud as he lifted the bucket wedged between his legs.

'Scrape the wall to scoop mud into the bucket, then tie it to the spare rope at my waist and send it up.'

Easy if it were easy, but simultaneously dangerous work.

Accidents happen in an instant.

Crack!

After scraping the wall surface with his fingers a few tis.

Because he had dug too deep, the wall's balance collapsed, and soon the area above Calix's head crumbled, pouring mud chunks from outside his field of vision.

Swoosh, thump!

Thanks to the slow flow of water, he didn't suffer fatal injuries, but the weight of stones mixed in the mud delivered a definite impact.

As his eye covers ca loose and extre pain rushed in, the bamboo tube he had been holding in his mouth also fell out, causing him to lose his breathing apparatus all at once.

Swish, swoosh—

What followed was bewildered struggling.

Not realizing that his body had been pushed down by the stones, he urgently waved his hands trying to find the breathing tube, but since his position had changed, it was a series of aningless gestures.

Gasp!

He took out the ergency air pouch from his waist and hastily drew in breath, then waved his arms again in that instant, but... It was hopeless.

Thus, gasp!

He had completely consud even the second ergency breath.

Tap tap!

With no more air left to inhale, he urgently pulled the rope at his waist twice, and in an instant, he was pulled up from the waist and returned to the pit entrance.

Gurgle, gurgle gurgle, gag!

The problem was that during that process, his breathing had reached its limit, and he had inhaled a lot of mud. The toxic mud rushed in through his eye sockets and mouth simultaneously, with no priority between them.

Swoooosh, splash!

"...#@$, $%#@!"

"Cough, gag! Bleh!"

Although he was quickly pulled out with external help, 909, the diver leader hardened his expression upon confirming that he was continuously vomiting mud.

It was an obvious situation what would happen next since he had consud a lot of sothing that was harmful just to touch the skin.

"Vomit it all out. Hurry!"

"Wh, what do you an..."

"You need to pull the straw out of your ear to hear! You stupid bastard!"

He had hoped this guy with quick wit and endearing behavior would last long.

Perhaps it had been too much to expect.

***

A month later, Calix had changed in many ways.

"...Strange. When you were bleeding from every hole, I thought you'd die soon, but instead your boils decreased?"

"Really?"

"I'm telling you it's true? You don't even cough anymore, which you did constantly. Look here. There are no tumors above your eyes at all. Your complexion has brightened? Anyone would think that cursed mud pit was a fountain of life."

The tumors throughout his body had noticeably decreased, new flesh had grown on his skin, and chronic respiratory problems had completely disappeared.

However, what was truly amazing was sothing else.

Whoa!

A diver walking through the tunnel montarily slipped, but Calix's grip was ready as if waiting to support his back.

As if he had known in advance that the other person would fall.

"Oh, oh. Thanks. I almost cracked my skull."

"Yeah. That was close. Be careful."

Indeed, Calix's heart was beating hard. It was because his perspective on viewing the world had changed once again.

'Light is coming from inside people's bodies. It's moving around inside their bodies. Was it always like that?'

His two eyes were directed toward a supervisor who had been tornting slaves since early morning. In his vision, which once only showed the colors of magic stones, streams of magic power flowing through human bodies were now clearly visible.

"You lazy bastards! You need to taste the whip to co to your senses!"

"S, sorry."

The stream of light that flowed down to the supervisor's neck again extended to his right arm with a small explosion, and he actually raised his right hand and swung the whip just as Calix had seen.

Crack!

This was the sound of a whip striking human hide, but it was also a signal announcing change.

'I heard that only Ashapel Raimund could see the flow of magic power within bodies. How did I inherit both Ranita's and Ashapel's abilities? But anyway... This is a fact.'

With this, Calix definitely regained hope.

His body had beco incomparably healthier than before, and if he had even acquired Ashapel Raimund's ability, there was no reason to give up his dream of becoming a knight.

Gulp!

Swoooosh!

"This bastard, planning to dig everything out by himself? What the hell is this about!"

And not long after, Calix ca to experience the process of his hope becoming reality.

By the ti he entered his second year of slave life, his excavation skills had improved so dramatically that he could handle more than half the quota by himself.

In his third year, he had completely adapted to the mud pit and could swim freely, and after another six months, his senses had beco sharp enough to instinctively detect collapses in mud layers during dives.

Rumble rumble.

Even if water was poured evenly from above the pit, collapses happened in an instant.

Fragnts hidden in the mud poured down from outside his field of vision, but Calix, who had beco a nineteen-year-old young man, twisted his body with fluid movents.

'Not hands and feet, but turn the whole body, and don't rush. If you apply force, the center will actually shake.'

The following process was so smooth it was hard to imagine it was inside a mud pit.

He avoided large objects by rotating his upper body, and caught smaller ones by extending his hands to embrace them in a circular motion.

'Falling things are easier if you catch them by rotating with your palms. Utilizing the flow... Gently grabbing and pulling down.'

Thud.

Thus, hundreds of mud chunks failed to cause him any harm and slowly fell into the darkness and disappeared.

Calix freely played in the pit instead of straightening his disturbed body center.

'909, 4961... It would have been good if everyone had been alive.'

In his mind flashed the faces of senior divers who had passed away a year ago. Calix was the only one who had overco the toxicity of magic stones.

That was certainly a tragedy, but it was also a signal that it was ti to leave the mine.

Sure enough, a few days later.

The opportunity he had desperately longed for ca suddenly.

"We're recruiting mine slaves who will volunteer for conscription! Eh, even if you have remaining labor periods, this is an opportunity to exceptionally regain freedom according to the royal decree..."

Inside the crude tunnel called quarters.

Despite the supervisor's shouting, the slaves all showed indifferent expressions without exception.

"Freedom, my ass. That's only possible if you haven't died yet."

"Right, if it's conscription, you'd have to take a hundred heads. Unless you're a born killer, you'd still be a slave. Don't do anything foolish. I heard they also attach neural accelerators behind your neck."

"Damn it. How many guys have died during surgery? And since it's conscription, even if they attach sothing, they'll attach sothing strange."

An opportunity no one wanted.

"There... 70715?"

"Yes. I would like to volunteer."

Only Calix wanted it.